My Cannabis Family Vacation – San Francisco

What is a Cannabis Family Vacation?

If you had told me a few years ago that I would need to plan a cannabis family vacation, I’d think you were bonkers. But now, as a medical marijuana patient, all our family vacations have to be planned around accessing cannabis, hence this crazy new search term: cannabis family vacation.

First, let’s be clear about what a cannabis family vacation is NOT. A cannabis family vacation is not a stoned, stupid, or irresponsible party time.

A cannabis family vacation simply means an ordinary family vacation that includes access to cannabis so that medical marijuana patients can be accommodated.

The thing is, cannabis isn’t available in most places and medical marijuana patients are not allowed to travel with their medicine.

Fortunately, there are a variety of great places that accommodate cannabis tourism. Medical marijuana patients can plan a cannabis trip to Colorado, Vermont, Washington, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, DC., Jamaica, Uraguay, Canada, and more.

Here’s a long post about our Cannabis Family Vacation to San Francisco & Santa Cruz, CA–the weed related things, and the ordinary.

Cannabis Friendly Hotels in California?

Do you know an officially cannabis-friendly hotel? If so, please tell me, because I have not found a truly cannabis-friendly hotel anywhere.

Most hotels have strict no smoking policies (and I expect that includes vaping). NOTE: I would never try to smoke in a hotel, but I may have vaped in hotel bathrooms using this Smoke Buddy Personal Carbon Filter.

Knowing most hotels are not cannabis-friendly, I carefully planned and booked our accommodations MONTHS beforehand. I found an Airbnb which allowed me easy access to a place I could vape cannabis. Unfortunately, Airbnb broke my heart and ripped apart my faith when TWO WEEKS before our trip (which was booked months in advance) Airbnb CANCELED my July 4th week reservation in San Francisco.

Forced to rebook last minute, there were no reasonably priced Airbnbs available that could accommodate us during the holiday. Similar places were going for quadruple the price of what I booked. Sadly, Airbnb offered shoddy customer service and a measly $200 credit (boo Airbnb, that wouldn’t even cover the cleaning fees).

We ended up being forced into an over-budget hotel and only spent half our trip in San Francisco. For the rest, we headed south to Santa Cruz which was honestly an absolute delight!! (And I’ll never rely on Airbnb again.)

Getting Marijuana in San Francisco

Unfortunately, it’s waaaay harder for single parents to get cannabis. Poor planning on my part! So be warned!

For the first two days in San Francisco, it was just my son (age 11) and I. My daughter (age 21) joined us later.

I counted on having cannabis delivered because in CA, minors are not allowed in dispensaries. What I didn’t realize is that many places only deliver to medical marijuana patients.

Thank heaven, for NuggMD. If you need a medical marijuana card in NY or CA, I highly recommend this telehealth service! I love them so much, I’ve partnered with them to promote their service because it really saved me when I desperately needed them.

If you need a CA or NY medical marijuana card, check them out. They are fast, easy, & 100% online.

GetNugg also offers cannabis delivery which varies from dispensary to dispensary; some still only deliver to medical marijuana patients. Whereas, any adult 21 & over may purchase cannabis in the dispensary.

Unfortunately, it took hours for me to figure all of this out and I went too long without medicine. Next time I travel, I’m considering bringing opiates and valium as a backup. I haven’t needed them in over two years, since I became a medical marijuana patient, but not having access to any medication was tough. (This is a such a stupid decision patients have to make. #legalize)

California Cannabis Products I Love

These Plus gummies were my favorite!! They’re all natural, and each only contains 5 mgs of THC which makes them ideal for microdosing.

Live Resin – Strawberry Mamba

Om Edibles

Everything Kiva is amazing.

Kanha Treats by Sunderstrom

Platinum OG

1:1 Gummies by District Edibles

Family Volunteering in San Francisco

While we were in San Fransisco, we spent the day volunteering at Glide. Glide is a remarkable meal service providing food and compassion to those in need.

My son said to me, “Mom, I’m glad we went, but it seems like an odd time. Why did we volunteer on vacation?”

I explained how important it was to give back to the community we were enjoying.

And honestly, volunteering at Glide was one of the highlights of our trip. We served nearly 700 meals in less than two hours and met some amazing humans who will leave a lasting impact on our lives.

Before our trip, I didn’t realize how large the homeless population is in San Francisco. I spend a lot of time in New York City and we have a significant amount of people who are homeless…but San Francisco it’s far more tragic. I’ve read about it. But I really didn’t realize until I saw myself.

Family Things to Do in San Francisco

If you only have a day or two to see San Francisco, a Big Bus tour is an ideal way to do it! We did the two-day tour and the night tour and we really enjoyed it.

On the Big Bus, you can hop on and off at all the major tourist attractions. There’s also a recorded or live tour guide depending on the tour.

Walk up and down Crooked Street

Ride a Cable Car.

I loved the Full House House, my son watches Fuller House with me and he loved it too. My daughter hasn’t seen either show and had no idea why we were so excited about a random house.

I checked this item off my bucket list! The Full House House

The Big Bus offers multiple views of The Golden Gate Bridge

And the chance to drive over the bridge.

The night tour offers stunning sunset views!

After a few days in San Francisco, we headed down to Santa Cruz.

Family Things to do in Santa Cruz

The Coastal Redwoods were my favorite part of our trip. I could sit among those magnificent trees for forever.

My son’s highlight of the trip was mountain biking with Santa Cruz Bike Tours. I have not been on a bike for over 4 years since before my neck injury. The nerve damage in my neck makes it painful to ride & impossible to navigate a bike, but my son LOVES mountain biking. Fortunately, I found Marty at Santa Cruz Bike Tours.

Marty took extra care to choose a comfortable ride for me, and took us on a beautiful tour of the Redwoods that offered remarkably gentle spots for me to ride with no navigating, and also offered my son mountain biking trails to play on. Let me tell you—my kids were SO proud of me. They had little faith that I could hang! …ok honestly, I didn’t have much faith either. And it wasn’t easy. I walked that bike quite a few times, and I went downhill like a snail, and it did hurt quite a bit, but some experiences are worth the elevated pain levels. My kids loved it, it was my son’s favorite CA moment, and it was a remarkably joyful experience. I’m so grateful for CA’s cannabis laws because high-quality medicine is the only reason I was able to do this.

Jessie Gill, RN is a cannabis nurse with a background in holistic health and hospice. After suffering a spinal injury, she reluctantly became a medical marijuana patient then quickly transitioned into an advocate. Her site, MarijuanaMommy.com combines science with personal insight to educate about medical marijuana. She’s been featured on Viceland and bylines include GoodHousekeeping, Cosmopolitan, MSN, and more.

IMPORTANT

Medical marijuana should be used under the guidance of a licensed healthcare practitioner. This site is intended as an educational overview of cannabis and does not constitute medical or legal advice.

This website is informational and cannot diagnose or treat illness or disease. Medical marijuana is not FDA approved and should be used under the direction of a licensed healthcare provider. This site contains advertisements. If you click a link and make a purchase, MarijuanaMommy.com may receive a commission.